Radars at IGI fail 2nd time in a week, flights delayed

Air traffic control (ATC) sources say there was a problem with the route radar and the terminal approach radar from 3.35pm to 4.15pm, after which the terminal approach radar started working.

| TNN | Feb 12, 2013, 04.12 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Aircraft approaching to land in Delhi on Monday afternoon were in for a shock. The radars at IGI Airport had failed yet again - the second breakdown since last Friday - and the aircraft were asked to follow a holding pattern, which had them hovering for a while. A few tense minutes later, air traffic controllers switched over to the manual procedural pattern in which they communicated with the pilots through very high frequency (VHF) radio and helped them land.

Air traffic control (ATC) sources say there was a problem with the route radar and the terminal approach radar from 3.35pm to 4.15pm, after which the terminal approach radar started working. It, however, worked intermittently.

While maximum delays were during the time when both radars were down, the problem persisted as the route radar was down till about 7.50pm. A notice to airmen was issued for this radar at 5pm, informing pilots that it was unserviceable.

"Usually there is a gap of about two minutes between each landing. Once the radars went down, the separation had to be increased to about seven minutes as pilots had to carry out a full manual landing procedure. This led to several flights getting delayed," said a source.

"Through radio, aircraft headed to Delhi were asked to go on holding pattern or keep hovering for some time before the controllers started guiding aircraft down at Delhi. This problem is happening very frequently in Delhi and could lead to a disaster," said a pilot who was flying in at that time.

"There is a problem with the long range radar's link because of which it is down. As a result, aircraft without a transponder (a device on aircraft that emits its exact position, altitude and speed to radars) that were beyond 60 nautical miles (about 108 km) from IGI were not showing on the screen. While commercial aircrafts generally have transponders, defence ones do not have them," said sources.

ATC has two sets of radars - primary and secondary with each having a long and short range reader - in Delhi for controlling air traffic over the entire north India. So while there are four sets of radars, IGI has been facing trouble with either all or many of them simultaneously in the past few days. The route radar with a range of 250 nautical miles is located at Bijwasan while the terminal approach radar with a range of 6-210 nautical miles is situated at the airport itself.

Sources said the radars were installed in 1994-1995 and have outlived their utility. "The equipment has been acquired and they will be changed soon," said a source. The DGCA has sought a report from Airports Authority of India on the issue.

Air traffic control sources say there was a problem with the route radar and the terminal approach radar from 3.35pm to 4.15pm, after which the terminal approach radar started working. It, however, worked intermittently.

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